Could this be a scam? High value item sale on eBay...

martindow

I think it looks suspicious because it is hard to see what the buyer achieves by arranging their own courier.  For a high value item, say £500, with you charging £10 say to send it, what possible saving is there arranging their own?  The only explanation I can see is that they are up to no good.

p3ncilsharpener

Seagull27 said:

If he paid cash and it wasn't fake everything would be fine, you wouldn't even need to personally deliver it or use the code.  

I thought that without the code he could say he hasn't had the item?  Or does that not matter because the onus is on him when it is Collection Only?  

Thanks for sticking with me   

EDIT - actually, scrap what I wrote above RE PayPal F+F.  I've just been reading an old thread and it seems these payments can be subject to "chargebacks" if the scammer is a very good one.  

It doesn't matter unless he's paid you via eBay/PayPal.

Besides, he'd be a bit daft to turn up, pay you the cash and then walk away without his item.

koalakoala

Stick to what you decided originally.  Does this buyer have any feedback?

Tunstallstoven

Thanks again for all the input on this.  I decided in the end to cancel the sale.  My gut feeling is that it was legit, but by no means enough so to continue with the sale.  I had a very similar situation a while ago - in which I also cancelled the sale - and it turned out the buyer was legit in that one.  But this was for a much higher value item and there certainly were some alarm bells so I think it was best not to risk it.  

koalakoala said:

Does this buyer have any feedback?

Nil poi!  In fact, his account was only opened a week or so ago, presumably to make this purchase.  His eBay handle is the name of his business as well, which is a registered Ltd business, but that was likewise only registered and set up a week or so ago.  I found it all so confusing and stress inducing trying to figure out whether all of that made him more trustworthy or less! 

I know with eBay now you can just wait four days and then cancel the sale due to no payment.  But I'm presuming he receives a strike for that?  On the off chance that he was/is legit, is there anyway to cancel the sale without him being penalised?  

Ta

RFW

I had something vaguely similar a few years ago but I can see how this could be different.

Although finished now I'd have asked which courier they'd intended to use and said you'd book that yourself.

Simple reason to tell the seller that if the courier damaged the item then you could claim on the insurance, which would be more difficult if the buyer had arranged it. So if you make the buyer think you're doing it for their benefit then if genuine they'd accept and if not they'd walk away.

Mine worked out ok but I got the buyer to arrange for the courier to pay me cash on collection. I've still never found a courier who'd do that but there must be the odd smaller ones. It was also something I could easily sell again so I took a gamble on whether they'd turn up and largely expected them not to.

p3ncilsharpener

RFW said:

I had something vaguely similar a few years ago but I can see how this could be different.

Although finished now I'd have asked which courier they'd intended to use and said you'd book that yourself.

Simple reason to tell the seller that if the courier damaged the item then you could claim on the insurance, which would be more difficult if the buyer had arranged it. So if you make the buyer think you're doing it for their benefit then if genuine they'd accept and if not they'd walk away.

Mine worked out ok but I got the buyer to arrange for the courier to pay me cash on collection. I've still never found a courier who'd do that but there must be the odd smaller ones. It was also something I could easily sell again so I took a gamble on whether they'd turn up and largely expected them not to.

The buyer can claim if they arranged the courier.  A smart scammer, or person in general, would know this.

RFW

p3ncilsharpener said:

The buyer can claim if they arranged the courier.  A smart scammer, or person in general, would know this.

I'm not saying they wouldn't know but if the seller offers to use the same courier for their own piece of mind there's no good  reason a genuine buyer would refuse that.

p3ncilsharpener

RFW said:

p3ncilsharpener said:

The buyer can claim if they arranged the courier.  A smart scammer, or person in general, would know this.

I'm not saying they wouldn't know but if the seller offers to use the same courier for their own piece of mind there's no good  reason a genuine buyer would refuse that.

You said it would be more difficult to claim if the buyer arranged the courier.  It wouldn't, why would it?

RFW

p3ncilsharpener said:

RFW said:

p3ncilsharpener said:

The buyer can claim if they arranged the courier.  A smart scammer, or person in general, would know this.

I'm not saying they wouldn't know but if the seller offers to use the same courier for their own piece of mind there's no good  reason a genuine buyer would refuse that.

You said it would be more difficult to claim if the buyer arranged the courier.  It wouldn't, why would it?

The seller couldn't claim if the buyer books collection. The buyer then has the contract with the courier. That was my point to show the buyer that it is in their cumulative best interest to book collection.
Irrelevant now the OP isn't bothering but feel free to keep arguing I'm here all day

p3ncilsharpener

RFW said:

p3ncilsharpener said:

RFW said:

p3ncilsharpener said:

The buyer can claim if they arranged the courier.  A smart scammer, or person in general, would know this.

I'm not saying they wouldn't know but if the seller offers to use the same courier for their own piece of mind there's no good  reason a genuine buyer would refuse that.

You said it would be more difficult to claim if the buyer arranged the courier.  It wouldn't, why would it?

The seller couldn't claim if the buyer books collection. The buyer then has the contract with the courier. That was my point to show the buyer that it is in their cumulative best interest to book collection.
Irrelevant now the OP isn't bothering but feel free to keep arguing I'm here all day

What do you mean by "book collection."  Book a courier?